Legacy

Stuck in Paris

Nathan

My plan had not survived contact with the enemy, but as I jumped off the bench ready to disappear into the nearby park, I wondered what my next move was going to be. I had managed to establish contact with a local university, and they thought my research looked promising, but they would need to look more into it before they would make any commitments. I had made sure not to share all of the papers with them in case they were going to try and rob me. While the researchers took their sweet time doing that, I meanwhile I had found myself stuck in Paris waiting for their answer. It was not ideal since I had no money for more or less anything. The police did not take kindly to homeless people sleeping in the parks, so I had been running around the city a lot. On the positive, I was finally getting enough excises and sunlight. Despite the circumstances, I had come to enjoy the city's many beautiful monuments and parks. I had vowed to one day visit the massive tower I had spotted when I arrived at the train station. My hunch about the people had not been entirely off either I had found employment at an old lady's house. She had seen me sleeping on a bench near her apartment and asked about my situation. I had told her the mostly true story of how I ended up on the streets of Paris, and well, if I made myself sound more like a pitiful mess, then what I was? I could not say I felt terrible about that. Doing things the right way had never gotten me far in life. People do not want the truth. They want what sounds or looks nice to them. If only Astor could have learned that. The poor guy stuck to useless principles like a prisoner clinging to their chains. Not again, I had managed to chase the man from my thoughts for the last couple of days.

The familiar guilt started rearing its ugly head again. I luckily did not get to linger on it for long as the sound of a loud bark and a shout brought my focus back to the situation at hand. Blasted, why had they brought dogs today? I gritted my teeth. I needed to get rid of the dogs first, or I would not make it. There was a fence on the street over from the park. It would help with that, but it was risky. The wall surrounded a garden, and it would be unfortunate if the family were home. As the barks got closer, I decided it was worth it. I could not afford to get caught by the police. The university might reconsider publishing my research if they heard I had ended up in jail. The police had not been bringing dogs before. I had been using this park too often if they were starting to be this prepared. Maybe a local had made a complaint or something.

I rushed over the street, ignoring the honks I earned from cars. The fence was pretty tall, or as Astor would comment: "Maybe you are just not very tall?" when I would struggle with getting the eggs from the cupboard. It was not my fault that man was unreasonably tall. He probably would be able to step over this wall. I struggled for a bit before I arrived on the other side of the fence. I could still hear the dogs as I made my way through the garden and onto the street on the other side. For something as small an offense as sleeping on a public park bench and maybe being a homeless person, the police were being oddly persistent today. My breath was getting rapid; I kept running. The barks did not stop. The street life had helped me get in a bit better shape, but I was no endurance runner. A change of tactic was needed. Trying to hide from a dog was not going to be easy, but I had no other options.

I looked around the sleepy residential area I had been running in and honed in an old-looking apple tree in the back of one of the gardens'. I took my chance and made my way into the garden, getting my skin ripped as a dense growth of thorny bushes tried to stop me. I pushed on, ignoring the pain. There was the tree guarded by its prickly companions. I hissed in pain as I tried to grab onto a branch. Finally, I managed to get a hold. Barks was nearby. I braced myself as I frantically tried to climb the tree. I was hiding between the leaves of the tree as I heard voices near me. At first, it was all nonsense to me still not familiar enough with French to immediately pick out the words at such a rapid speed. The more I listened a few words became clear to me, things like arrest, essential, and tree. It took me a moment, but then I accidentally stared straight at one of the officers as I tried to make sense of what I had heard. We stared at each other then he shouted something to the others. I panicked. In a mad dash, I tried to get down from the apple tree and escape — my ideal hiding spot was now a sticky prison. It was a shameful attempt, and I did not get very far before I found my place surrounded by police. I would have gotten arrested sooner if not because neither I nor the police was able to breach the bushes that quickly. When they finally dragged me out of there, they were not in a good mood. At least that is what I assumed when they roughly showed me into an illegally parked car on the street nearby. They said some stuff to me in French. My rights were my guess. And like that, my venture in Paris was over.